


Regulations

by jiwon



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, bec xiuchen have been shippable these past few days, idk bruh i just, wow this aint bakesoo SURPRISE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 10:03:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7166669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiwon/pseuds/jiwon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are rules and Jongdae breaks all of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regulations

**Author's Note:**

> Same warnings tbh  
> WARNING: unedited, unchecked, poor sentence construction, bad plot execution
> 
> >>can this make up for the unfinished baeksoo i'm still trying to work on  
> >>i suck at this  
> >>bye

There are rules that come with Jongdae’s job.

The first one is that he isn’t allowed to decide himself what he is going to do with the talent. He isn’t allowed to experiment and he isn’t allowed to take comments from anyone – even the talent himself – unless approved by the manager.

Another rule is that he can’t accept anything that the talent gives him, no matter how insistent the talent becomes. His job is to politely and briefly decline, even he's given something as simple as food.

The last and the most important one is that he isn’t allowed, under any circumstances, to talk to the talent he is assigned to. No pictures. No small talk. He is to keep quiet, wait for instructions, and do what he’s told to do by the manager when he is given a description for hair and make-up.

He will get caught. He will get fired. And Jongdae can’t afford to get fired, not when he’s paying for his sister’s tuition fee and not when he’s the only one that provides for the two of them.

The rules shouldn’t be a problem because coming into this job, Jongdae already knows that he isn’t in this to make friends with any celebrity. He is loud, but he could keep his mouth shut. He is friendly, but he could learn to keep everything professional. Clock in, make-up, hair, re-touch, more re-touch, and clock out. None of the rules should be a problem.

 

 

So, on his first day, Jongdae keeps his eyes casted down on the floor while he’s being introduced to the new talent he’s going to work for, and bows ninety-degrees as he murmurs his greeting quietly.

“I’m Kim Minseok. Please take care of me,” the singer says cheerfully, and when Jongdae discreetly and cautiously looks up to peer at him, there’s a cheeky smile on his lips.

Jongdae only keeps his head down with his hands on his sides before being escorted by the manager to one of the corners of the room, away from Minseok, for his instructions for that day. When he’s given the signal, he walks towards Minseok who’s quietly resting in front of the make-up table and scrolling through his phone.

Jongdae tries to keep his eyes on the make-up counter as he gets the brushes and the palettes that he will need to use.

“Hi.”

Jongdae  _tries_ not to look at Minseok.

“What should I call you?”

Jongdae bites his tongue to  _try_ and ignore Minseok.

“Hello?”

Jongdae begins taking the brushes out with full concentration.

“I should at least know your name.”

And Jongdae sighs because his mentality is so weak that he spares Minseok a glance.

“I’m not allowed to talk to you,” Jongdae says with gritted teeth.

 “At least tell me what I should call you,” Minseok says softly. His eyes are softly smiling at Jongdae.

When Jongdae sees that no one’s really paying attention to them, Jongdae says his name.

“That’s a nice name. Kim Jongdae,” Minseok repeats with a nod. “Please, make yourself comfortable around me.”

Jongdae nods to that even when he knows he can’t be; knows he shouldn’t, especially when he looks up and meets Minseok’s manager’s sticky stare at him from across the room.

Strike one, and Jongdae thinks he might already have to find a new job soon.

 

 

 

The next time they meet is for a photoshoot. It’s Minseok’s comeback preparations, and they’ve been working twenty hours straight.

Everyone’s busy and Jongdae is thankful because it means that there is really no time for casual conversations and no time to answer Minseok’s questions. All Jongdae does is pretend like someone is calling him and he successfully dodges every conversation Minseok tries to start.

Jongdae puts the final touches on Minseok’s seventh look for today and nods to confirm that he has finished. Minseok stands up with a blank face and walks towards the set, only to trip on something and fall on the cemented floor.

Minseok shouts and Jongdae automatically rushes in front of him, eyes wide and searching.

“Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?” Jongdae asks frantically. Minseok glances at him quietly and watches as Jongdae scans him for any injuries.

Dozens of pairs of eyes are on them, and Jongdae only realizes what he’s doing when he looks up to see the smile on Minseok’s lips. No one steps up to help Minseok.

“So you can speak,” Minseok says after a while. “Maybe you’d like to answer me whenever I try talking to you. I feel like an idiot talking to myself.” The singer pulls himself and Jongdae up and then dusts the slacks and suit he's wearing. He seems perfectly fine, judging by how he even had that huge mischievous grin on his face.

Jongdae’s lips fall agape in disbelief as Minseok walks off to the set like nothing happened at all. He prepares himself for the scolding that’s coming from Minseok’s manager because he talked to Minseok, like what had happened on his first day, but it doesn’t come.

It does eventually, right at the end of the shoot because apparently, he accepted a bag of snacks and a bottle of water from Minseok. He has no idea about what the manager is accusing him of until he sees the mineral water along with the brown paper bag sitting beside his back pack. Jongdae tries to argue that he didn’t accept it and it was only left beside his belongings, but he knows that this is already the second strike.

He gets the bag anyway and finishes the bottle because he’s already in trouble for it.

On the subway on his way home, he finds a folded piece of paper buried under the packs of baked goods.

_ Don’t be like them. I beg you. _

__

__

 

Jongdae’s silence continues even when Minseok always looks at him like a battered puppy, eyes always pleading to talk to him. After several weeks of silence from Jongdae, Minseok stops trying, and Jongdae can see the disappointment and the hurt in his eyes.

In one of the company’s practice rooms, Minseok is shooting a variety show and they’re currently taping him while rehearsing and practicing the choreography for his title track. Jongdae thinks that there is really no point of keeping him around because Minseok isn’t even wearing full make-up, but the manager insists that he should stay because nobody else knew how to re-touch make-up. Not even Minseok himself.

So Jongdae keeps quiet at the very back of the practice room, out of the video cameras’ reach, and watches Minseok rehearsing in front of the mirror walls.

Jongdae realizes that the non-stop promotions, shoots, and broadcasts are starting to take their toll on Minseok’s body when Minseok misses the counting on his third try. On his fifth try, Jongdae could tell that Minseok’s arms and legs must feel like lead. On the seventh, the manager explodes in his seat and stands up to charge at MInseok. The cameras are still rolling and it seems like everyone in the room stops to witness watch the scene unfold in front of them.

Minseok is scolded with his manager’s booming voice echoing around the room. It’s not a hidden camera prank. Jongdae knows, because he has seen how this man gets mad, and he feels like shit right now, because  _why does he have to do this in front of everyone else? Why does he have to humiliate Minseok like that?_

“No lunch. No water break until you get it right,” the manager yells as he storms out of the practice room and bangs the door behind him.

Minseok takes a deep sigh, wipes the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, and walks to the speakers to repeat the song. Jongdae could feel the shame radiating off of him, and it puts a sickly feeling to his stomach.

It’s a huge risk, and he’s already on the waiting list to getting fired, but Jongdae takes his jug out of his bag and pads towards Minseok across the room. His heart breaks at the sight of Minseok’s trembling hands and breath that Minseok can’t seem to catch. He offers Minseok the water and smiles sympathetically.

Carefully and with doubt, Minseok accepts the bottle. As he tilts the jug to drink, he keeps his eyes on Jongdae. “I thought you weren’t allowed to talk to me.”

Jongdae lifts his eyes to meet Minseok’s. “You didn’t deserve that. You don’t deserve this.”

“That wasn’t the first time. It won’t be the last. But this,” Minseok says as he drinks the last gulp of Jongdae’s water. He holds the jug out. “This is a first. I’m sorry.”

Jongdae doesn’t understand it at first; thinks he deserves a ‘thank you’ instead, but understands when he realizes that there’s a reason why no one ever offers Minseok any help.

Minseok’s only human, but Jongdae’s the only one who’s willing to treat him like one.

 

 

Thankfully, nobody says anything about the act Jongdae did at the recording. It doesn’t get to the manager and he gets another day with his job.

In the next few days, Jongdae decides to keep a small distance between him and his talent. Far enough that he’s out of trouble’s reach, but near enough to exude comfort. The small pats on the back, flashes of tight-lipped smiles, and bottles of water or even just candy. It’s enough.

It took some (read: A LOT) of convincing, but Jongdae exchanges numbers with Minseok. He saves it at home when no one’s looking at him as he takes the slip of paper and enters the number. He texts the number to find out if it really does belong to Minseok, and it does. They spend hours getting to know each other because Jongdae finds out that Minseok is very much human, like him, and he realizes that there is no lie when people say that what people see on their screens is just the tip of the iceberg.

He finds out that Minseok’s not allowed to eat after six in the afternoon, that he's not allowed to make friends with the staff for image protecting purposes, that he only got his phone the first time he won an award at a music show, and that his most important rule is that he isn’t allowed to date anybody, not allowed to try and court anyone, and will probably not be allowed in the near future even when he’s one of the most successful artists his company debuted. So many useless facts about Minseok, but Jongdae stores them all in his memory like he’s going to be the one two write Minseok’s biography.

The both of them are still cautious, of course. Jongdae makes sure to delete his logs and his inboxes every time before he goes to work and makes sure that he leaves everything that Minseok secretly passes onto him. After that, he checks his phone again to make sure he’s deleted everything for the eighth time in the morning.

 

 

Their surroundings are a lot busier than usual. It’s the company’s annual family concert, and everybody is on their feet making themselves busy.

Jongdae’s given instructions: dye Minseok’s brown hair jet-black, style his hair down on the first part of his set and then up on the second part. He’s given pictures for the make-up and says that he’ll get it done right away.

Minseok takes a look at the box of hair color that Jongdae puts on the table and looks back up at him with wide eyes. “You’re dying it black?”

Jongdae only looks at him quietly.  _Yes._

“I don’t want it black. Can’t we make it blond?” Minseok pouts.

Jongdae winces at the pout that Minseok shows him.

“Please?”

“I’m going to lose my job.” Jongdae almost forgets rule number three, almost sobs, but manages to say the words through gritted teeth.

Maybe it’s because he actually feels bad for Jongdae; remembers the rants or the dilemmas when they spoke to each other through their phones late at night, that Minseok simply gives the box of black dye back to Jongdae and tells him to prepare the black dye, then.

There’s that puppy look again and Jongdae has already learned that Minseok doesn’t really do it on purpose, but it really fills Jongdae up with guilt. It’s been like this for Minseok ever since he was fourteen.  _Fourteen._ He thought that after seven years of training, Minseok would have all the freedom he needs the moment he debuts. It’s his fourth year as a singer, and he’s still maltreated by his manager.

Jongdae should start packing his bags because he’s probably going to have to move to a smaller apartment or maybe he should tell his sister that he won’t be able to pay for her tuition already because it isn’t an accident that after one and a half hour of working, Minseok’s hair doesn’t turn black. The light brown color before turns into an even lighter color, and Minseok’s eyes gleams when he sees himself through the reflection.

Minseok goes on stage in an hour so Jongdae starts working. It’s when he’s finishing Minseok’s hair that a hand grips his wrist like it’s going to cut off his circulation. The look on Minseok’s manager’s face is definitely the scariest thing that Jongdae has ever seen in his entire life.

“Hyung, I like it. Let it go,” Minseok says.

But it’s like Minseok isn’t even around by the way his manager keeps his glare on Jongdae. “I specifically told you to dye it black!” Everyone stares at them. No one in the room moves. “Are you fucking stupid? Or do you really just want to fucking piss me off?”

Jongdae receives a hit on the back of his head and fifteen more minutes of loud –  _very loud_ – scolding. He has to hold Minseok down by his shoulder because the singer is one second away from getting himself into the fight.

The manager once again storms out of the room and leaves Jongdae to finish Minseok’s hair and make-up. Tears well up in his eyes as Jongdae finishes his work. Minseok can only keep mumbling apologies that Jongdae only smiles softly at.

“You’re done,” Jongdae says quietly. “We’ll fix you up again later for your second set.”

Minseok stares at him without words.

“This is the most trouble I can get in. Talking to you is nothing.” Jongdae presses a smile. “I’m okay.”

He walks out of the dressing room with his head down and doesn’t turn back when Minseok calls his name.

Jongdae thought he could keep it professional until the very end. But really, how could he when he’s fallen for the person he’s not even supposed to talk to in the first place?

 

 

The next time that Jongdae comes to work, he’s expecting the manager to fire him.

He’s not wrong to make that assumption, except it isn’t the manager who’s firing him.

Jongdae furrows his eyebrows and turns to the manager for answers.

“I wanted to keep you around,” the manager mutters. “The CEO thought Minseok’s blond hair suited him a lot. He commended you for it, but Minseok…”

“I’m firing you,” Minseok tells him.

“Are you at least going to tell me why?” Jongdae’s voice cracks and he can feel his throat tightening as the tears threaten to fall.

“I don’t need you as my stylist,” Minseok says simply. His manager takes that is his cue to leave, and Minseok and Jongdae are left in the room.

“Why are you doing this? I can still work for you. I don’t understand why you’re firing me.”

Minseok gazes intensely at Jongdae. “Because I love you,” he confesses. “And I can’t stand seeing you get hurt because of me.”

“Minseok–”

“Because you’re the only one who actually cared for me. The only one who listened. The only one who understood. Because I’ve fallen for you, and I really shouldn’t.”

Because the both of them have broken the rules and they can’t really work together unless they follow them.

 

 

 

A couple of weeks later and Jongdae gets another job. He is told that their team really wanted Jongdae to be their talent’s stylist due to the recommendation of another artist, and he happily accepts the offer.

It’s easier and the rules aren’t as strict. Jongdae really wishes it’s the same rules but with the different talent.

As he fixes Baekhyun’s hair, the singer tells him to stop. “My friend told me to give you this.”

He hands over a brown paper bag filled with packs of cookies.

There’s a piece of paper at the bottom and Jongdae could feel the blood rushing in his ears as he reads the paper.

 

_ You’re not like anyone else. You broke all the rules for me. _

_ I love you. And I’m breaking my most important rule for you. _

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on twitter that described how it was working with EXO and idk i thought of this


End file.
